Tag Archives: Small business

By Carol L. O’Riordan A HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) is a geographic area that benefits from a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) program that was established in 1998. The program helps small businesses in urban and rural communities gain preferential access to federal procurement opportunities. The SBA regulates and implements the HUBZone program by […]

By Pamela J. Bethel We have good news for small businesses that contract with the federal government. The government’s policy encouraging prompt payment to small business subcontractors has been extended to December 31, 2017. In a memorandum issued on January 11, 2017, by the Office of Management and Budget, OMB Director Shaun Donovan ordered that the […]

By Taimur Rabbani The Small Business Administration recently issued a rule to allow a large, prime government contractor with an individual subcontracting plan to receive small-business credit for subcontracts issued to small businesses at any tier. The rule has significant implications for businesses performing on unrestricted federal contracts – at all tiers. The final rule, […]

By Carol L. O’Riordan Welcome to the world of “midnight regulations” – a regulatory phenomenon that occurs from time to time in Washington, D.C., when one administration leaves office and a new one comes in. The Hill reported on January 19, 2017, just a day before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, that many federal regulatory […]

By Pamela J. Bethel The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has upheld the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) business development program, which provides for contracting preferences to small business owners, against a constitutional challenge that the program involves impermissible racial classifications. The decision in Rothe Development, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Defense and […]

On July 25, 2016, the federal Small Business Administration issued a final rule – effective August 24, 2016 – establishing a mentor-protégé program for all small business concerns. Although this new program resembles the existing mentor-protégé program for 8(a) firms, it is a distinct program that permits all small business concerns to participate in mentor-protégé […]

Here is an interesting and important bid protest case that a team from O’Riordan Bethel won earlier this year in the Small Business Administration’s Office of Hearings and Appeals. The holding of the case was that a mentor-protégé joint venture formed under Section 8(a) does not qualify for a set-aside as a service-disabled veteran-owned small […]

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on June 16 that when Congress wrote “shall,” it meant “shall.” The result of its decision in Kingdomware Technologies Inc. v. United States will have major implications for the federal contracting efforts of veteran-owned small businesses (VOSBs) and may well give VOSBs a big boost in their constant efforts […]

Earlier this month, Baltimore City reached an agreement with federal and state environmental agencies that commits the city to greatly reduce the amount of sewage that overflows in Baltimore within less than five years. The agreement is a modification to a 2002 consent decree between the Maryland Department of the Environment, the U.S. Environmental Protection […]

Our client, Dr. Kimberly Brown, who is president and CEO of Baltimore-based Amethyst Technologies, was featured in an article in the Baltimore Times on May 13, 2016. Dr. Brown founded the company in 2006, and it now has annual revenue of about $2 million and clients that include the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, […]